


i'm already there

by Fives (janfives90)



Category: The Prom - Sklar/Beguelin/Martin
Genre: F/F, but also just fluffy oneshot nonsense, pilot AU
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-09-07
Updated: 2020-09-07
Packaged: 2021-03-07 02:40:57
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,484
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26345749
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/janfives90/pseuds/Fives
Summary: Once they’re in the air and can talk between themselves, her co-pilot says, “It’s ten in the morning, Nolan. It’s not early enough for you to be tired.”“I’m not,” Emma mumbles, rubbing at her eyes. “Just a little distracted.”Shelby raises an eyebrow. “Not really what you want to hear from your captain.”
Relationships: Alyssa Greene/Emma Nolan
Comments: 3
Kudos: 52





	i'm already there

“Planes!”

Emma smiles as Liam plays with the end of her tie, patting the little designs in the fabric. “Yeah, that’s right, a plane.”

“It’s time for you to leave?” Aspen asks softly, sitting down next to her and burrowing under her arm.

“It is, kiddo.” Emma kisses her on the top of the head. “I won’t be long.”

“You really can’t stay for my party?”

Emma shoots a helpless look at Alyssa, standing in the doorway of the kitchen. “No, honey, I can’t. Remember when we talked about this yesterday? I’ll be back for cake with Grandma and Gran, but I can’t be here when your friends come over.”

Aspen is quiet for a long moment. “Okay.”

“I love you-” Emma moves out of the way to avoid getting headbutted in the jaw when Aspen stands up quickly and walks out of the room.

“I’ll go,” Alyssa murmurs, following their daughter down the hallway.

Emma gives a soft sigh and looks at Liam, still fixated on her tie. “Think you can take care of your big sister while I’m gone, pal?”

He gives her a blank look, then points at Nugget, curled up asleep in her bed. “Dog!”

“Good talk.”

* * *

“Turbulence isn’t good for my voice, Emma, could you avoid the bumpier routes?”

Emma smiles, hiding the roll of her eyes behind her aviator sunglasses. “I’ll do my best, Ms. Allen.”

Barry Glickman’s eye roll is out in the open as he steps onto the plane behind her. “It’s a jet, Dee Dee, not a limo. What do you expect her to do, steer around air potholes? We’re going to be flying over the Rocky Mountains in the middle of the day during the hottest week so far this year. The kid isn’t a miracle worker.”

Dee Dee glares at him. “It was just a _suggestion.”_

“Just like the _suggestion_ that you get lemon in your water whenever we go to a restaurant,” Barry retorts, ushering her towards the seats. He shoots a wink over his shoulder to Emma, then sits down.

Emma glances down at her watch. “While you get comfortable and the rest of your group boards, I’ll head back to the cockpit to run through the checklists with First Officer Gonzales.”

* * *

Once they’re in the air and can talk between themselves, her co-pilot says, “It’s ten in the morning, Nolan. It’s not early enough for you to be tired.”

“I’m not,” Emma mumbles, rubbing at her eyes. “Just a little distracted.”

Shelby raises an eyebrow. “Not really what you want to hear from your captain.”

“Not that kind of distracted.” Emma sighs and adjusts her sunglasses, scanning the instruments before looking back out through the windscreen. “It’s Aspen’s birthday on Saturday.”

“Oh, wow, really? How old is she now?”

“She’ll be seven.”

“Jesus. She can’t be seven.”

“I know, right?” Emma shakes her head. “She’s having a party with her school friends to celebrate.”

“That’s cool.”

“It’s at noon today.”

Shelby winces. “Ah, jeez.”

“I’ve missed things here and there before, but it’s usually been when she was too little to remember. This is the first _big_ thing for her. And man, it really hurts to see those sad eyes when I’m trying to get out the door.”

“Wait until it’s Liam. Aspen has Alyssa’s sad eyes, which are good, don’t get me wrong, but Liam’s going to have the ‘congratulations, you just _kicked a puppy_ ’ sad eyes that you can do, and that’s going to be worse.”

Emma narrows her eyes. “Oh, gee, thanks. I’m so looking forward to that.”

Shelby shivers. “God, imagine them both doing it at once. You’ll probably quit your job, Nolan.”

“You know, Gonzales, you aren’t really helping.”

“Are you sure?”

“...Yes.”

* * *

As she checks into her hotel, the front desk clerk says, “Captain Nolan-Greene? A message was left for you.”

Emma’s brow furrows. “For me?”

“Yes, someone called before you arrived.” The clerk hands her a message card, and Emma sticks it between her lips to hold it as she wrestles with her jacket, hat, key card, and suitcase.

She doesn’t get a chance to read it until she’s in her room, and she drops onto the bed with a huff before holding the card up.

_Mom can you come home now?_

_-Aspen Nolan-Greene_

Emma closes her eyes and digs her phone out of the pocket of her uniform pants, turning it back on now that she’s back on solid ground.

There’s three missed calls from Alyssa’s cellphone, one from the house phone, and a text message from Alyssa.

 **Alyssa:** Nothing’s wrong. Aspen was trying to call you from my phone while I was in the shower.

Emma spins her phone between her fingers for a moment, then hits Alyssa’s contact and holds the phone up to her ear.

_“Hey, baby. Did you get my text?”_

“Yeah. I just got into the hotel.”

_“How’s San Francisco?”_

“Same as it was the last dozen or so times I’ve been here. Hotter than New York, though. I’m sweating like hell in this suit.”

_“It does always look good on you, though. I bet you’re even hotter than San Fran.”_

Emma groans. “That was terrible and you know it.”

Alyssa laughs. _“Maybe.”_

“How are things going over there?”

_“Fine. Party wrapped up around two-thirty. We are never having more children.”_

“That bad?”

_“Just chaotic. I couldn’t keep up. I think poor Liam just wanted to hide in his room with the dog.”_

“Nugget would’ve done it.” Emma pauses. “I’m sorry. I wish I could’ve helped you with it.”

_“Honey, I knew what kind of job you had when I married you. I signed up for the chaos. It’s okay. Maybe next time we make sure you’ll be off when we schedule a party of screaming children, but that’s more for sanity’s sake than anything else.”_

“I love you.”

She can hear the smile in Alyssa’s voice as she replies, _“I love you, too.”_

“Is Aspen there?”

_“Yeah, hold on a second.”_

There’s some distant murmuring on the line, then Aspen’s voice says a hesitant, _“Hello?”_

“Hi there, kiddo,” Emma says softly.

 _“Hi, Mom,”_ Aspen whispers.

“How was your party?”

_“It was okay.”_

“Just okay?”

Aspen is quiet, and Emma swears she hears a sniffle.

“Aspen? What’s wrong?”

The little girl’s words come out in a frantic rush. _“It was a lot of fun, but I-I don’t want to say it was a lot of fun, because then you’ll think we had fun without you, and then maybe you won’t come next time either.”_

Emma pauses. “Aspen, can you listen to me for a second?” She hesitates again, clearing her throat to keep her voice from cracking. “Honey, I can’t promise you that the next time you have a party I’ll be there. It’s just not how my job works, okay? But that does not mean that anything you do could ever make me not _want_ to be there with you. I’ll always want to be with you, and if I can’t be there, I’ll always want you to have the best time you can possibly have without me. Do you understand?”

There’s another sniffle, but Aspen says, _“Yeah.”_

“I’ll be home on Friday, and on Saturday why don’t you and I go pick up the cake while your mama makes the spaghetti? We can leave your brother at home.”

_“Can Nugget come?”_

“Nugget can’t go into the food store and she can’t stay in the car, but we can play with her out back for a bit when we get home. Does that sound good?”

_“Yeah!”_

“Good. Just you and me, then.”

 _“Just us,”_ Aspen repeats. She pauses, then says, _“Mom? I love you. Sorry I didn’t say goodbye when you left.”_

“It’s alright, kiddo. I love you, too. Can you put your mama back on?”

_“Uh-huh. Bye, Mom.”_

“Bye, Aspen.”

There’s a small thunk, then Alyssa’s voice returns. _“Where’s Nugget going?”_

Emma laughs. “Nugget’s not going anywhere. I told Aspen that she and I could go pick up the cake on Saturday while you made the pasta.”

_“Oh. That would be nice, actually. Get two out of four troublemakers out of my hair.”_

“Maybe you can drop boy and dog off at your mom’s and have a relatively peaceful half hour.”

_“Don’t tempt me. I might.”_

Emma takes in a deep breath. “As much as I’d love to talk to you forever, baby, I’ve gotta go get something to eat and then get some rest.”

_“You do that. Text me when you’re in for the night.”_

“I will.”

_“I love you, Emma. Talk to you later.”_

“I love you, too, Alyssa. Bye.”

Emma hangs up and puts her phone down. She stands up to change out of her uniform, taking her tie off and setting it on top of the hotel room desk. She runs her fingers over the fabric, smiling softly to herself. “Planes.”


End file.
